The Blacksmith

Sometimes you just need a defining moment, or just doing something for long enough that you get bored and your mind actually bubbles things over in the background. Well about 5 or 6 weeks ago I finally worked out the thing that has been staring me in the face for so long. In Arathi Basin the Blacksmith (BS) is in the centre of the map!!!! Well, der!

Just like in chess if you control the centre then you can control the game. So, what have the Horde been doing for so long? Winning more ABs than Alliance. What else have you noticed? More often than not BS is taken by the Horde first, and more often than not they hold it for most of a game. It's the shortest point to any other flag in the game.

Not long after realising this I flukily ended up as battleground leader. So i thought "what order do i give an anarchic, chaotic, narcissistic bunch of self serving toons?" Hmm perhaps I didn't really say that to myself but I should have. I asked the people to do something they weren't used to - take BS first. Quite a number did try and help take BS first however because the Alliance do not have a direct route to the flag (and I am sorry but the Horde do) we reached it a little after they did and found it difficult to take. I kept asking people to try (I do not insist, I just ask and advise) but we were losing the other flags and people's attention was beginning to wander.

Then up jumped a voluble turkey who kept insisting that it was a crap strategy. "The only strategy is to take Stables, Gold Mine and Lumber Mill. Hold them and you win. If we don't win then it's because you are all crap noobs who can't hold a flag." Hmmm, I think I might have my hands full with this one. The game is too short to change minds and evangelise. So I pretty much left it alone, firing off the odd verbal shot when the turkey started using CAPS and telling us we were all crap noobs, we should leave the field and not do AB again. Striking exercise in leadership I thought.

Anyhoo. The BS is the centre of the board. It is the shortest distance to any other flag in the game - for either attack or defence. The premades know this and so do the Horde. Now you do too. Good luck :)